Gibster

Are there any good guides/explanations on how habitation/home works? I broadly understand it, I just want to know what the precise mechanics are and what it's affected by. One of the things that I am thinking about is long term stays at other planets with stations that are constructed ahead of time and I am trying to think of how to engineer my shuttles that'll take them there and back. How are Kerbals affected when they're transferred from a station outfitted with lots of habitation for multiple years to a shuttle with enough habitation to get them back to Kerbin from Duna?

I was having difficulty landing at Gilly today because my landing legs would compress and send me flying upward which is especially frustrating at Gilly because it flings you half way out to orbit and it takes several minutes to come back down (even with physics compression). This happened even when I slowed myself down to less than a m/s of velocity. After a second time I just said love it and retracted the legs cause its Gilly and its possible to land there with a Nerv. But this is still a bit of a frustrating issue and has caused my Minmus and Mun landers to bounce, sometimes leading them to tip over. Is there anyway to increase the rigidity of the landing legs so that they aren't just springs?

I was browsing One F Jef's channel and clicked on a ksp video out of curiosity.

Thanks for the info! I've noticed balancing power needs is really difficult. I am trying to make a probe with 20,000 m/s of dv as a sort of proof of concept for a reusable multiplanetary ship and I can't really get anything over a TWR of .10 while using nuclear reactors with the goal of sustainable thrust. I've noticed that the lower my TWR is the less efficient I am with my burns. I'm still figuring out how to do interplanetary transfers properly with these engines. Usually I go out to a parking orbit by the Mun (which doesn't have too long of an orbital period) or closer. I would go out further to around Minmus (further reducing the dv requirements needed to escape_, but it makes your craft's orbital period too long, such that I once missed a transfer window because my craft wasn't in the right place and by the time it got to the right place, it had missed its window. I probably need to learn how to split up burns properly, I just haven't found any good tutorials on how. I am probably expecting too much of the performance of the engines and should probably be aiming for lower DV requirements (20,000 is bit much but I still hope for it). When I've designed my craft, I usually go all in on either power capacity or production and if I had to guess the solution is probably in between (using consistent power production to reduced the stored power needs). We'll see, I clearly still have much learn on the proper use of these engines but I am having fun doing so!

I haven't used the nuclear reactors yet. I am doing all my experiments with probes but I want to scale it up to large reusable interplanetary spaceships. I know some of the other engines are probably more conducive to being used on larger craft but at the moment I am kind of enthralled with the aesthetic of the Ions and Hall Effects. I am playing on Sandbox though (I've researched the entire tech tree far to many times for it to be much fun anymore) so I don't have to worry about tank size or whatnot. We'll see if my goal is even possible and it'll be a fine tuning process to figure out which engines are best and how best to use them.

I'm having an interesting time experimenting with the different electric engines of NF Propulsion. Ya'll probably all know this but from what I am gathering, Gridded Ions need large amounts of battery storage in order to sustain their long burns (greater Energy/Fuel ratio). That or a large amount of energy production. Hall effects have lower power requirements but need larger amounts of fuel than Ions (lesser Energy/Fuel ratio). Anyone have any tips on using these electric engines? Like whether energy storage or energy production should be the main concern for Ions? Also, tips for using them for interplanetary travel?

I've noticed that there's beautiful 1.25 and 2.5 meter Ion and Hall Effect engine models in the imgur gallery for NF Propulsion but I can't find any Ions or HEs bigger than the .625 size. Am I just crap at searching through my engines tab or am I missing something (like a partswitch model)?

Does it atleast function in 1.4?

THANK YOU! YOU ABSOLUTE ROCKSTAR! I didn't think it was possible to use older versions with Steam so I thought my saves were boned.

I'm getting ready to build a big utility station in my career mode and I was wondering where you guys think the best place to park a station in the Kerbin system is. Low Kerbin Orbit, High Kerbin Orbit, Mun, or Minmus? I want a place that will serve as a nice rendezvous and refueling area as I get ready to start launching reusable nuclear ships (that'll hopefully serve on multiple missions).

I'll try Cobalt's and report back on how it works. But I also like the idea of integrating something similar in this mod, whether its adapting Aegis or creating a whole new part. It could be a part of other probe replicas that you may decide to integrate later down the line (like the ones I've already mentioned). Up to you, your work is appreciated nonetheless.

The instruments don't need survive because Aegis can store experiments. It would be nice to have a dedicated science drop off pod with integrated parachutes and a heat shield/high heat tolerance. Base it off of Hayabusa, Genesis, OSIRIS or even Luna. I always figured that was the purpose of the Aegis pod. In effect this: (Hayabusa's drop pod)

Question: Can the Aegis probe core withstand re-entry temperatures without being destroyed? From what I understand it has a higher temperature tolerance than other cores. I like using it as a science package drop off pod and I was wondering if my inclusion of a heat shield is unnecessary.

I'm a veteran at this game (250 hours) and I just started a new mudded career mode after a sandbox which included a lot of heavy lifting and I was just surprised by how unstable my early vessels have been and how much I have to fight with them on the way up. Is this normal, or have I lost some touch with creating small early game vessels? I mean larger vessels also face instability issues but its like a different kind of instability, at least one where its a little more obvious as to the causes (like too sharp a turn or just really top heavy) At the moment I am blaming the instability on my lack of access to fairings but I just don't really know.

This mod is awesome and I just started a new career game based around it. Thing is, I just realized how many parts it adds, even though I am only gradually unlocking them its still a little overwhelming. I don't know how this stuff is all supposed to be used or put together so I am just mashing it all up and hoping it works. Also, why is the Surveyor stuff so far up the tech tree, I was a little confused at having a probe with SAS a little earlier than usual (perhaps this mod is better in the Community Tech Tree, I'll have to look).

Alright, I'll give it a go. I do wonder if I should start worrying more about part count, as its generally not something I've fretted over much previously, especially since my goal in my new game is to focus on space station building. I'm using a semi-decent college craptop so I should probably be giving more thought to it. Also never really liked parts with multiple functionalities, always though it took away from the whole customization aspect of building.

Hey I came here from this post and have to say, this is a nice looking mod you got here, personally really interested in the fuel tanks. That said I do have a bit of a selfish question: Is it possible to isolate the fuel tank parts from the rest of the mod? I already have a few mods that add all the engines and command modules I need (Near Future Tech and Space Y) and I kind of want to keep less clutter in my parts list (and try not to overwhelm my computer). If not (at least if its not easy), its alright, I'll manage. Thanks!

That's precisely the type of stuff I'm looking for (I really like the spheres). I noticed the pack has a bunch of other stuff that I don't really need, for instance it adds another dozen or so engines whose functions are already covered in the mods I have (Space Y and Near Future Launch Systems) as well as command pods I don't really need. Personally, I'm not too keen on adding more clutter to my parts list, so is there any way to isolate just the fuel tanks?

Hey I am looking mods that add fuel tanks that aren't the traditional cylinders we're used to seeing. Basically, I am tired of my spacecraft all turning into the same amalgamation of cylindrical pieces. When I look at real probes and whatnot I see craft that take on a variety of different shapes. I'm fine with my launch rockets all being cylindrical, that's what I expect, I just don't like that my spacecraft look like my launch rockets. I got a taste of it with Near Future Construction and the truss pieces that can carry fuel and other stuff, but its only one type of truss.

I AM AN IDIOT, I didn't extract the B9PartSwitch, problem solved! Sorry!

I don't have B9partswitch installed. Do I need to install it? The only other mods I have installed are Near Future Solar, KW Rocketry, Kerbal Alarm clock, Kerbal Engineer, and DMagic Orbital science. I'll still post a copy of my log files when I have the time.

Does anyone else have any issues with the Octo-trusses? The purely structural trusses and ones with pressurized crew parts are fine, but the other types (fuel, electric, monopropellant?) are all meshed into two parts, each trying to draw from multiple textures. Also right clicking does nothing to them (can't adjust what's in them).

Ok I'll try that, I just unlocked the 2.5 meter base fairings anyways. Will report back with my launch to Minmus.

Hmm, so it sounds like I might be over controlling my rocket, which makes sense because for the first 10,000 meters I'm constantly tapping the A or D keys. That's going to be a hard habit to fight. So what I'm hearing is to make a small 5-10 degree turn around 50 m/s and then let the rocket itself do most of the flying, with only minor course corrections and disabled or prograde SAS. BTW here's one of my problem rockets: http://imgur.com/a/Oohxz

For too long have most of my rockets oscillated or flipped, making them rather a pain to fly into orbit. I want to be able to build larger rockets without dreading the launch (whereas most of my smaller rockets are more stable). Teach me the way of the stable rocket, as I have tried many things, fins (and trying to disable certain control surfaces), tinkering with thrust vectoring, simply adding more reaction control wheals, etc. all with limited success. Some just replace one problem with another, for example I've found that adding fins simply replaces flipping with heavy oscillation. How can I make flying a rocket a joy a again?